Just like the tariffs imposed on us by Beijing as a consequence of our closeness to President Donald Trump in his first ‘gig’ in the White House, these Trump tariffs on our steel and aluminium exporters into the US can’t be seen as a great gift of friendship. That said, the real impact on the economy will be small, and Trump’s ability to promise hell and then give a heavenly reprieve is legendary.

At present, all exporters of steel and aluminium products into the US will be taxed with 25% tariffs, which means American businesses using our products will find them 25% dearer but our exporters won’t get the higher price, but the US Government will.

It means US-based operations will look cheaper or it could mean they could raise their prices because their overseas rivals have now been made dearer.

This actually will help Australian-listed BlueScope, with Yahoo Finance pointing out that North America was BlueScope's biggest revenue-generating geography in fiscal 2024, having accounted for about 43.9% of its total sales. In fact, its share price rose yesterday — the first day of trading since the Trump tariff slug on us was released over the weekend.

The chart below shows how the share price actually went up by 1.81% to $21.90, which means the market thinks BlueScope will win out of the tariff slugs.

However, there will be losers, namely steel and aluminium producers that simply export their products into the US.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese is set to talk to President Trump today and he’ll look for exemptions for Australian producers.

This is how The Australian saw the tariff’s implications on us: “Australia exported about $640m worth of steel and $440m worth of aluminium to the US last year. Australian steelmakers with US operations, including market leader BlueScope Steel, stand to benefit from the trade restrictions, but those without a US presence risk being shut out of the world’s largest economy.”

Interestingly, former PM Malcolm Turnbull has upped the pressure on Mr Albanese by telling The Australian that “…it didn’t matter who Australia’s ambassador was, as securing a tariff exemption would ultimately be a “captain’s knock”.

These comments followed calls for another ex-PM, Kevin Rudd, our US ambassador who has publicly condemned Donald Trump as “the most destructive president in history” to be brought home.

However, Mr Turnbull added: “If you’re going to cut a deal with Trump, the person to do it has got to be the Australian prime minister.”

In 2017, he convinced Mr Trump to exempt Australia from his steel and aluminium tariffs based on the fact the Yanks had a big trade surplus for us, meaning we buy more from the US than we sell!

One indirect consequence of these tariffs could be that China could start dumping cheap steel and aluminium that once used to go to the US, which could be another pressure problem for local producers.

And The Australian pointed to a possible unintended consequence of these tariffs as the “…trade bans could affect the AUKUS security pact, with Australian company Bisalloy Steel named last year as a supplier to US submarine-maker Newport News Shipbuilding.”

While the likes of BlueScope will be okay with these Trump tariffs, there are bound to be smaller exporters who’ll see their bottom lines trumped. By the way, despite the concerns about these slugs on our exporting companies, the local stock market is expected to open up positively today.